RESOLUTION For a more democratic Europe now

The Federal Committee of the Union of European federalists (UEF), meeting in Brussels on 21 October 2023,


whereas
 the process to unite the peoples of Europe has been actually triggered on 9 May 1950 in Paris by Robert Schuman’s speech;
 in his speech on that day he declared “Europe will not be built all at once, or as part of an overall project: it will be built through concrete achievements, first creating de facto solidarity”, adding “By pooling basic production and setting up a new High Authority, whose decisions will be
binding on France, Germany and the countries which join them, this proposal [i.e. the pooling of coal and steel production] will lay the first concrete foundations for a European Federation (…)”;
 73 years later to date, several such concrete achievements have been performed, some of them, in particular, being in whole or in part federal in nature, such as (1) the Court of Justice of the European Union, (2) the election of their representatives in the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage by all citizens of the European Union, and (3) the
Economic and Monetary Union;
 democracy is one of the uttermost values on which the European Union is founded (Art. 2 TEU);


considering
 that however, the functioning of the current institutions of the European Union suffers from a blatant lack of democracy and of democratic legitimacy that European citizens are constantly denouncing — as they have done in the framework of the Conference of the Future of Europe—, just as the Federal Constitutional Court of Karlsruhe stresses, in particular, in its Judgement 2 BvE 2/08 of 30 June 2009;
 that, as the founders and members of the European federalist movement, including Altiero Spinelli and Mario Albertini, have consistently proclaimed from the outset and so far, the democratic functioning of the European Union can only be reached and guaranteed at European level by the adoption of a European federal constitution by its citizens — who,
summoned together to the polls, constitute Europe’s demos —, therein bringing their union process to its conclusion;
 that in essence, the constitution that a sovereign group of citizens gives itself can never be granted by international treaties, even if possibly reformed, and that the spurious so-called

“Draft Constitutional Treaty” of 2004, among others, indeed an international intergovernmental treaty, had none of the characteristics of a democratic constitution and still leaves the constituent process in abeyance;


 that the proposal No 39 “EU Decision making process” of the Conference on the Future of Europe suggests in its paragraph 7 “Reopening the discussion about the constitution, where applicable, to help us align better on our values” adding “A constitution may help to be more precise as well as involve citizens and agree on the rules of the decision-making process”, while democracy is undoubtedly one of the most important values, if not the most important, underpinning the European Union;
 that the events through which Europe has collectively been passing over the last four years
— pandemics, climate change, accelerated environmental degradation, immigration pressure, together with the repeated evidence of its geopolitical incapacity and absence of defence autonomy, as well as other circumstances that are most likely to occur in the short term

— underline the extremely urgent need for legitimate collective governance capable of overcoming categorical and national selfishness or blindness;
 that there is an absolute necessity, following the situation created by Putin’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, to combine an urgent and crucial enlargement with the political deepening of the integration project, if EU wants to be successful. Indeed, in this framework, at least abolishing unanimity on policies of a strategic nature (foreign policy, taxation, multi-annual budget, own resources, electoral law, monitoring of the rule of law, reform of the Treaties, among others), becomes unavoidable;

strongly urges
─ that the Parliament seizes its intrinsic mission by largely approving the Draft Report thus enabling the citizens who elect it between 6 and 9 June 2024 to benefit at last from the highest possible level of European democracy;
─ that, throughout the election campaign, candidates standing to represent those citizens be firmly reminded of their imperative duty to fulfil that task and to commit, with a view to the opening of a Convention for the reform of the Treaties, to undertake that it turns into a constituent occasion to lay the foundations for a new European juridical system, of a federal type, which would establish the transition from a community of states ruled by treaties, to a political community of a state nature, based on a true constitution;
─ that, if Member States don’t give their agreement to open the Convention for the reform of the Treaties, the European Parliament newly elected needs to reaffirm itself as a permanent constituent assembly to draft a European federal constitution, which will have to be adopted by the European Parliament and ratified by the competent bodies in the Member
States, and elaborated with the possible participation of citizens and such organisations and bodies as it deems appropriate;
─ that, to this end, in all Member States, the election campaign for that election give this issue the top priority it deserves, with the involvement and active support of all UEF sections.

RÉSOLUTION Pour une Europe plus démocratique maintenant

Le Comité fédéral de l’Union des fédéralistes européens (UEF), réuni à Bruxelles le 21 octobre 2023, tandis que


 le processus d’unification des peuples européens a été effectivement déclenché le 9 mai 1950 à Paris par le discours de Robert Schuman ;
 dans son discours, ce jour-là, il déclarait « L’Europe ne se fera pas d’un coup, ni dans le cadre d’un projet d’ensemble : elle se fera par des réalisations concrètes, en créant d’abord une solidarité de fait », ajoutant « Par la mise en commun des productions de base et la création d’une nouvelle Haute Autorité, dont les décisions s’imposeront à la France, à l’Allemagne et aux pays qui les rejoindront, cette proposition [c’est à dire la mise en commun des productions de charbon et d’acier] jettera les premières bases concrètes d’une Fédération européenne (…) » ;
 73 ans plus tard, à ce jour, plusieurs de ces réalisations concrètes ont été accomplies, certaines d’entre elles, en particulier, étant en tout ou en partie de nature fédérale, telles que (1) la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne, (2) l’élection de leurs représentants au Parlement européen au suffrage universel direct par tous les citoyens de l’Union européenne, et (3) l’Union économique et monétaire ;
 la démocratie est l’une des valeurs suprêmes sur lesquelles est fondée l’Union européenne (art. 2 TUE) ;


considérant
 que cependant, le fonctionnement des institutions actuelles de l’Union européenne souffre d’un manque flagrant de démocratie et de légitimité démocratique que les citoyens européens ne cessent de dénoncer — ainsi qu’ils l’ont fait dans le cadre de la Conférence sur l’avenir de l’Europe —, comme le souligne la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale de Karlsruhe, notamment par son arrêt 2 BvE 2/08 du 30 juin 2009 ;
 que, comme les fondateurs et les membres du mouvement fédéraliste européen l’ont, depuis le début et jusqu’à présent, constamment proclamé, notamment Altiero Spinelli et Mario Albertini, le fonctionnement démocratique de l’Union européenne ne peut être atteint et garanti au niveau européen que par l’adoption d’une constitution fédérale
européenne par ses citoyens — qui, convoqués ensemble aux urnes, constituent le demos de l’Europe —, menant ainsi leur processus d’union à son terme ;

 que, par essence, la constitution qu’un groupe souverain de citoyens se donne à lui-même ne peut jamais être accordée par des traités internationaux, même éventuellement réformés, et que le fallacieux « Projet de traité constitutionnel » de 2004, traité international intergouvernemental parmi d’autres, ne présentait aucune des caractéristiques d’une constitution démocratique et laisse toujours en suspens le processus constituant ;
 que la proposition n° 39 « Processus décisionnel de l’UE » de la Conférence sur l’avenir de l’Europe suggère dans son paragraphe 7 de « rouvrir le débat sur la constitution, le cas échéant,
pour nous aider à mieux nous aligner sur nos valeurs » en ajoutant « une constitution peut aider à être plus précis ainsi qu’à impliquer les citoyens et à convenir des règles du processus décisionnel », alors que la démocratie est sans aucun doute l’une des valeurs les plus importantes, sinon la plus importante, à la base de l’Union européenne ;
 que les événements que l’Europe traverse collectivement depuis quatre ans — pandémies, changement climatique, dégradation accélérée de l’environnement, pression migratoire, ainsi que les preuves répétées de son incapacité géopolitique et de son absence d’autonomie de défense, ainsi que d’autres circonstances qui risquent fort de se produire à court terme —
soulignent l’extrême urgence d’une gouvernance collective légitime, capable de surmonter les égoïsmes ou les aveuglements catégoriels et nationaux ;
 qu’il est absolument nécessaire, à la suite de la situation créée par la guerre d’agression à grande échelle de Poutine contre l’Ukraine, de combiner un élargissement urgent et crucial avec l’approfondissement politique du projet d’intégration, si l’UE veut réussir. En effet, dans
ce cadre, l’abolition de l’unanimité pour les politiques de nature stratégique (politique étrangère, fiscalité, budget pluriannuel, ressources propres, loi électorale, contrôle de l’État de droit, réforme des traités, entre autres) devient inévitable ;

demande instamment
─ que le Parlement saisisse sa mission intrinsèque en approuvant largement le projet de rapport, permettant ainsi aux citoyens qui l’élisent entre le 6 et le 9 juin 2024 de bénéficier enfin du plus haut niveau possible de démocratie européenne ;
─ que, tout au long de la campagne électorale, les candidats qui se présentent pour représenter ces citoyens soient fermement rappelés à leur devoir impératif de remplir cette tâche et de s’engager, en vue de l’ouverture d’une Convention pour la réforme des traités, à faire en sorte qu’elle devienne une occasion constituante de jeter les bases d’un
nouveau système juridique européen, de type fédéral, qui consacre le passage d’une communauté d’États régie par des traités, à une communauté politique de nature étatique, fondée sur une véritable constitution ;
─ que, si les États membres ne donnent pas leur accord à l’ouverture de la Convention pour la réforme des traités, le Parlement européen nouvellement élu doit se réaffirmer en tant qu’assemblée constituante permanente chargée de rédiger une constitution fédérale européenne, qui devra être adoptée par le Parlement européen et ratifiée par les organes
compétents des États membres, et élaborée avec la participation éventuelle des citoyens et des organisations et organes qu’il jugera appropriés ;

─ qu’à cette fin, dans tous les États membres, la campagne électorale pour cette élection donne à cette question la priorité absolue qu’elle mérite, avec l’implication et le soutien actif de toutes les sections de l’UEF.

Brussels, 18 August 2023 Domènec Ruiz Devesa appointed President of the UEF

Sandro Gozi MEP stepped down after five successful years at the head of the organisation 
 The Executive Bureau of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) appointed on 3 August, Domènec Ruiz Devesa, Member of the European Parliament, as President ad interim, following the departure of Sandro Gozi. Prior to this nomination, Domènec Ruiz Devesa held the position of Vice-President of the UEF.

Under Sandro Gozi’s leadership, the UEF participated at the Conference on the Future of Europe, re-launched its collaboration with the Spinelli Group, the European Parliament’s intergroup of federalist-minded MEPs, and put forward several political actions culminating in this year’s Treaty Reform Now! campaign, collecting more than a thousand signatures from EU political leaders, elected officials, and representatives of the European Civil Society.

Domènec Ruiz Devesa saluted his predecessor’s achievements: “Sandro Gozi, a true Federalist, did the utmost to improve the UEF and advance its agenda. I know our personal friendship will endure and it is my commitment to continue to cooperate with the European Parliament and the Spinelli Group.”

The UEF remains committed to the advancement of a federal, sovereign and democratic Europe, notably through:The negotiations on the reform of the EU electoral law and the composition of the European Parliament after 2024, for which Domènec Ruiz Devesa and Sandro Gozi are reporting on the European Parliament’s behalf,The upcoming AFCO report calling for a Convention for the reform of the treaties,The preparation for the upcoming European elections.

Background
The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a pan-European, non-governmental political organisation dedicated to the promotion of European political unity since 1946. We believe that completing European political unity is required to ensure Europe’s economic prosperity and strength. The UEF calls for a European democracy where all citizens can determine the policies of a European government. The UEF promotes a federal, sovereign and democratic Europe.
  

Extracts: Superpower Europe, the revolution of the EU

Extracts (translated in English from the Dutch version of the book by Robert Verschooten)

The world order has tilted, so has the mission and position of the European Union. (…) In this book I document a real revolution of the European Union. We witness, in real time, but largely unnoticed in public opinion, the European Union is undergoing a historic transformation. (p.14)

The new European Union shares with the United States a geopolitical, industrial, technological and military mission tailored to a new world order with superpower conflict. (…) An evolution that changes the identity and balance of the European Union itself and that requires a new understanding among its member states. (p. 15)

That new environment represents a strategic evolution for the European Union, which has revolutionized the way it thinks and acts. (p.20)

I identify three fault lines in the evolution of Europe and of the European Union:

  • The European Union is becoming a closed geostrategical project – rather than an open country community.
  • The European Union is becoming a superpower project – rather than a post-modern peace project.
  • The European Union is becoming a state project – rather than a free-market project.

These three fault lines are still in gestation.  (p.22)

European Union enlargement was an external dynamic aimed at broadening European community building. Now that has been reversed: enlargement is an internal European question about the European Union’s strategic geographical position in the world.  (p.26)

A layered membership has long been implemented, separating European economic integration from political integration. The European Union has long been experimenting with various degrees of flexible integration. (p.28)

A layered European Union maximizes Europe’s geostrategical weight in the world. (p. 30) In order to be geostrategical, the European Union must be institutionally flexible. (p. 31) ( . . . ) the European Union must be able to handle variations and degrees of European integration that adapt to a greater diversity of candidate member states. (p. 31). If we want countries like Moldova, Albania or Serbia in the European sphere, the European Union’s offer must evolve into much more than a combination of market, sustainability, democracy and money. (…) or some variant of it, perhaps less in the areas of economy, ecology and democracy, but certainly more in other, more geopolitical and strategic areas.  (p.32)

Against its will, the European Commission, (…) has deliberately evolved from a technocratic bureaucracy for market dynamics and free trade agreements into an overtly geopolitical Commission. (p.44)

The European Union is naturally becoming a geopolitical power union as it has to fill its long-standing economic role in a new hostile world where economics is the extension of hard power and vice versa. This evolution is proceeding at breakneck speed. (p. 46)

The internal federalization of the European Union as a nascent power union is the common response of EU member states to the external world that demands Europe be a power bloc. (…) Without a power union, the hostile world as a centrifugal force would tear apart cohesion among European countries in a compromise of national interests. Both our values and interests require a strong Europe. (…) First, I want to name what Europe must additionally achieve in order to be and remain itself in this new global power reality: a strong, internationally focused and therefore necessary European military capability. (p.52)

The historical division between the economic European Union and military NATO is no longer relevant. A European Union that continues to ignore and delegate military power cannot fulfil its mission in economy, technology or energy with the necessary autonomy. (p.54)

The European Union has managed to transcend national interest by providing what the European nation-state either could not, or should not do without threatening the European Union itself. (…) When there is a crisis in Europe, the European Union is always part of the answer. As a result, the European Union has continued to grow as an autonomous state actor, as a protofederal state entity that organically and in shocks sucks up national sovereignty and approaches ever closer to the fait accompli of an EU state.

The division of roles between member states and the European Union is blurring and tilting towards European federalization, without the constitutional set-up of the European Union itself having evolved along with it from bureaucratic or institutional processes to democratic federal decision-making. (p.69) (…) The impotence of democratic national politics paradoxically gives much space and power to the technocratic politics of the European Union. (p.70)

When the European Union needs decisiveness, speed and dirigisme of an actual state, there is no escaping its protofederal administration that is the Commission. (p.70)

The role shift towards the state in the European Union goes far beyond the intersection between economy and power under the pressure of world order. The primacy of geostrategy and and geopolitics in the European Union implies the primacy of politics on the market in Europe. (…) The European Union was a bastion of the free market, but it is becoming a bastion of state intervention and politicization. (p.71)

The DNA of the new European Union tilts from market capitalism to state capitalism where state control and state intervention rather than market forces are central.

In the revolution of the European Union, the single market is retrieved as an economic reality for a fundamental paradigm shift: as a lever for revival, industrial and climate policy on a European scale. (…) The shift from market to state (…) from decentralized competition to central planning, from state neutrality to state interference and state activism, has fundamental consequences for the governance of the European Union and for member states. (…) When the European Union trades the market for the state, it becomes a platform that fosters economic and financial competition between member states, that generalizes market competition between companies and gives market status to those companies specifically mobilized as extensions of political agendas. (p.90)

A free market is compatible with diversity and democratic, political and administrative culture among EU member states. The contrary means friction. (…) With a free market, Europe can serve all member states. (p.91) A free market is also compatible with power differentials between large and small countries, and between richer and poorer countries (…). European industrial policy and climate policy, on the other hand, inevitably collide with the reality that industrial and energy interests differ widely among member states, favouring or disadvantaging some member states much more than others. (p.91) It is with Europe’s waning fiscal standards as with waxing European industrial policy: objectively, they favour mainly large and strong countries. (p.94)

If we can continue to overcome political divisions, the European Union can take advantage of the revolution of our times to reinvent itself and thereby ensure once again what has always been the end goal of European unification: stronger, more prosperous and secure European countries. (p.98)

The European Union becomes a permanent balancing act between necessary scale and necessary sustainability capacity, a constant search for the interface where scale serves rather than prevents decisiveness. (…). European protectionism and subsidy policies indirectly increase national competition among member states. (p.104)

No one disputes that the functioning of the European Union lacks democratic transparency and accountability, and that the European Union fundamentally runs on the combination of bureaucratic technocracy and elite politics among diplomats and heads of government. (p. 110) The European Union is silently in stalemate with itself.  The Union (…) is quietly drifting away from democracy and the rule of law itself. (…). It is also and above all about how a European Union tilting towards federalism can find connection and legitimacy in what is the democratic underpinning of federalism: the separation of powers between the Union and the member states, the separation of powers at the European level, and the link between European political decision-making power and European democracy, in each case with constitutional guarantees. (p.111)

The systemic democratic deficit thus undermines not only the legitimacy but also the workability of the new European Union. Moreover, the current operating resources of the European Union and its funding model are by no means sufficient for the immense task of a geographically enlarged and geopolitical border and power union. (p.112) The new European Union risks getting bogged down in the tension between mission and capacity. (p.113)

The choice of a new European Union is the result of emergency politics under the external pressure of the polycrisis of our time. (…) It is an implicit, derivative and mainly reactive choice, not an explicit, principled or proactive one. (p.117)

The spectacular momentum of this new ‘passage to Europe’ on the wave of crisis should not blind us to the weaknesses in its foundations. The (r)evolution in the European Union is a cesura in the historical trajectory of European integration. (p. 118)

The new European Union must be careful not to lose touch with itself, its member states and the people of Europe. Besides manifestation, necessary and desirable in the face of crisis needs and the challenges of this century, deep contradictions generate big questions of legitimacy, about the balance between values and interests, between democracy and technocracy, between national sovereignty and European power, between EU mission and EU functioning, between market and state, and between member states themselves. The existential questions of the new European Union cannot be forever obliterated and ignored under the urgency of crisis policy and crisis management. (p.119)

If the Member States of the European Union can link institutional momentum to its strategic momentum, then the growing pains of the new European Union can be gradually absorbed and alleviated. The dynamics for this will be not only European but also international. (…). If the strategic transformation of the European Union is not properly institutionally anchored and supported within it, Europe risks being strategically very vulnerable to external events, to internal divisions or simply to mission overload. Moreover, its new mission makes the European Union the natural spearhead of Europe in the wider world (p.123).

Join us in Rome!

Dear friends,

We are glad to announce that registrations to the next Federal Committee meeting are open. The Federal Committee will take place in Rome, from Saturday 23 to Sunday 24 November 2019.

The Federal Committee meeting will be preceded by a public event organised together with the Movimento Federalista Europeo (MFE), and The Spinelli Group, in the late afternoon of Friday 22 November, to which you are invited to participate.Both the draft agenda of the Federal Committee meeting and the program of the public event will be available in September.Meanwhile, we invite you to register and book your flights and accommodation as soon as possible.

The FC meeting is open to members and observers. Please register and transfer the participation contribution as soon as possible and, in any case, by Friday 25 October 2019. You can register to the Federal Committee meeting by following this link.

RESOLUTIONS
Deadline for proposals for resolutions will be communicated after the Bureau meeting on 14 September. 
Meanwhile, we encourage the chairs of the Political Commission and FC members intending to submit a draft resolution, to share ideas and drafts well in advance of the official deadline on the FC email listfc@federalists.eu and take into account comments received from other FC members when submitting an official draft. Collective preparation will facilitate discussions and finalisation of documents at the meeting itself.

PARTICIPATION CONDITIONS
The contribution to attend the Federal Committee meeting is 50€. A reduced contribution of 25€ applies to students, job seekers, and participants under 25.
The contribution is waived for local, Rome-based participants.
The participation contribution covers:
– Dinner on Saturday,
– Venue Costs
Please indicate, at the time of registration, whether you will participate to the dinner on Saturday evening.
FC members and observers should arrange for their own accommodation at their own cost.

TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT CONDITIONS
No travel reimbursement is available for this meeting.
We kindly encourage you to book your flights and accommodation as soon as possible to avoid costs higher than expected.

Should you have any further questions please get in touch with the European Secretariat or UEF Belgium here.

We look forward to seeing you in Rome!

International Seminar of Ventotene 2019

From the Monetary Union to the United States of Europe

Ventotene, Italy September 1-6, 2019

The “Altiero Spinelli” Institute for Federalist Studies has been organizing an international seminar on the island of Ventotene for the past 36 years. This island off the Italian coast is the place where Altiero Spinelli, author of the Federalist Ventotene Manifesto, was imprisoned during the Second World War. Each year, young federalists gather here to discuss federalist ideas on European and global issues with leading experts from the European and World Federalist Movement. The seminar is a unique and intensive experience on Federalist studies.

Main topics of the International seminar 2019

  • Human Rights and Peace
  • European Union and Regional Imbalances
  • European Union and global economy
  • Federalism and federalist organizations

150 participants. 60 hours of training and debates. 30 speakers.
Here we are building the future of Europe!

Download the Call for Application 2019 and apply before May 31st 2019!

Assemblée Générale de l’UEF-Belgique, 22 Juin, Bruxelles

REGISTER HERE

Chers Amis, Chers Membres,

Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à l’Assemblée Générale (AG) annuelle de notre association qui se tiendra le samedi 22 juin 2019 de 9h30 à 12h30 à la Rue du Trône 62, 1050 Bruxelles (Regione Piemonte – IoSono Bar – entrée par le Clos du Parnasse).

Au-delà des questions statutaires, nous souhaiterions que cette réunion soit aussi un moment de convivialité avec les membres et les sympathisants de l’association ainsi qu’un moment de réflexion politique sur l’Europe et sur l’action des fédéralistes européens.

Nous aurons le plaisir d’accueillir le Président du Comité européen des régions, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, de 9:30 à 10:30 pour un débat politique, et le Président de l’Union des Fédéralistes Européens, Sandro Gozi de 12:00 à 12:30.

En espérant vous voir participer nombreux et nombreuses, merci de confirmer votre présence par courrier électronique (D.Rossetti.di.Valdalbero@gmail.com), téléphone ou SMS (+32.0495.53.57.95). En cas d’empêchement, merci d’avance de nous envoyer une procuration de vote par courrier électronique.

Avec nos meilleures salutations,

Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero, Secrétaire général

Michele Ciavarini Azzi, Président

Programme de l’Assemblée Générale du 22 juin 2019

1. Débat politique introduit par M. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Président du Comité des Régions

2. Approbation des comptes au 31.12.2018 et décharge aux administrateurs (1.1.18-31.12.18)

3. Rapport d’activité du Secrétaire général

4. Rapport politique du Président

5. Présentation des candidatures et élection du nouveau Conseil d’Administration*

6. Conclusions du Président de l’Union des Fédéralistes Européens, Sandro Gozi

7. Divers

European Election Night in Brussels

On Sunday 26 May, the European Parliament in Brussels will host a public open-air event (from 18:00 to midnight) for everyone to share the results of the European elections 2019 and to see what the next 5 years have in store:

🔹Enjoy our open-air stage and find out about the results as they come in at Place du Luxembourg with live jazz from all over Europe.

🔹Join our mini festival of democracy on the Esplanade with debates, live commentary and analysis.

🔹Discover more on the evolution of democracy with special evening tours at the House of European History.

We will be there with the Young European Federalists and the Union of European Federalists to comment the results of elections by connecting UEF and JEF sections and discuss the federalist proposals for the new EP with citizens and politicians present on the Esplanade.

We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Join for the opening of the new European Parliament in Strasbourg

The European Union has been “at a critical junction” time and again since its inception. Calls for a renewed commitment to the European project have taken almost a life of their own. Back in 2014, after the Parliament had managed to elect him at the helm of the European Commission by establishing no less than a constitutional precedent, President Juncker declared his would be “the Commission of the last chance”: if it did not deliver, citizens would lose their trust in the EU. After the dismal outcome of the Brexit referendum, EU leaders convened in Bratislava to agree on a supposedly ambitious roadmap “to make a success of the EU with 27 Member States”. Three years on – Leaders’ summit after Leaders’ summit – Brexit still hasn’t happened (thankfully!) and resources, time and energy have been wasted on European Heads of State and Government unable to unite around anything more than generic commitments to the EU.

That there would even be a need to reaffirm European unity is proof that the time of national leaders is far gone. We need European solutions urgently, not least to stop more far-right and illiberal forces from rising to power. The alarms bells have been ringing for years now, but these leaders are too comfortable sitting in their own echo chamber to hear them.

EU national leaders have failed us. European integration by intergovernmental cooperation has the EU stuck in a status quo that could well be its downfall. But the history of the European Union is not only one of disappointing meetings of European leaders. The history of Europe is also one of citizens gathering, demonstrating and protesting; citizens calling on elected leaders for more decisive steps towards the political unity of the European people.

In 1975, thousands gathered for a demonstration in Rome calling for the direct elections of the European Parliament, which then took place in 1979. On the occasion of the first ever plenary sitting of the directly elected European Parliament, on 17 July 1979, thousands of young people demonstrated in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg to ask for a European government, a European currency, and a European budget. On 25 March 2017, while EU national leaders where gathered to celebrate the 60thanniversary of the EU Treaties, thousands took the streets in Rome to call for further European integration – for a European Federation! 

Today, simply celebrating the EU and its achievements is not enough anymore. Our continent is in dire need of common solutions underpinned by genuine European democracy. This July 1-2 in Strasbourg, at the opening plenary session of the European Parliament, we will again call on our elected representatives to choose Europe, wholeheartedly and without reservations. This July, we must take up the challenge of creating a genuine, European democracy – or risk having no democracy at all.

Programme

The programme of the Citizens’ gathering for the new European Parliament in Strasbourg includes :

Monday 1st of July

  • 14:00 – 18:00: We are Europe – Citizens’ Agora: at the European Youth Centre, debates and workshops on civil society expectations from the new European Parliament for European relaunch
  • 19:00 – 21:00: “A new Parliament for new Europe”Meet new MEPs – at the Strasbourg city-hall, activists from civil society organisations and Strasbourg citizens discuss with the most federalist-minded of the newly elected MEPs on citizens priorities for the new term of the European Parliament. Followed by a reception.

Tuesday 2nd of July

  • 08:00 – 10:00: Rally in front of the European Parliament: Citizens gathering for the new European Parliament

Please find full programme here.

Participation Conditions

The event is open to civil society activists officially residents in an EU member state, an EU-candidate country, a country being part of the European Economic Area.

Group participation:

If you would like to organise a bus or group travel from your country, please contact us at secretariat@federalists.eu. We can provide some financial support and make available accommodation at favorable rates. As availability is limited, we will support groups on a first-come first-served basis, so please contact us as soon as possible.

Individual participants:
For individual participants who attend all three events, we can offer accommodation at a discounted rate: 25€ fee for one night(between Monday and Tuesday) or 60€ for two nights (from Sunday to Tuesday).

Accommodation is in double rooms or in triple rooms, with other participants. The fee gives access to the three events, including coffee breaks and the reception on Monday evening. 

Transport from Brussels and Luxembourg will be provided with a bus. More information here.

As availability is limited, you should register as soon as possible. Participants are accepted on a first-come first-served basis. No travel reimbursement is available.

The fee must be transferred in advance – see bank details here:

Union of European Federalists

BNP Paribas Fortis

Agence Quartier Léopold

Place du Luxembourg 14B – 1050 Ixelles

IBAN: BE69 2100 3760 9578

SWIFT CODE: GEBABEBB

“Join the opening of the new EP”: *First Name* *Last Name*”

Venue

Monday 1st of July:

We are Europe Citizens’ Agora 14:00 – 18:00 at the European Youth Centre30 street Pierre de Coubertin, 67000 Strasbourg. 

“A New Parliament for new Europe” 19:00 – 21:00 at Strasbourg City Hall, 1 Parc de l’Etoile, 67076 Strasbourg 

Tuesday 2nd of July:

Rally in front of the European Parliament

Registration

The registration for the event is compulsory by 20th of June but please register as soon as possible by filling the registration form. Those travelling from Brussels and Luxembourg who wish to take the organised bus can fill in this registration form.